Many vehicles are provided with load containers commonly referred to as "beds". Pickup trucks are an example of such vehicles and as is well known, include generally rectangular open-topped beds onto which loads to be transported can be placed. Unfortunately, since the beds are open-topped, articles placed on the beds remain exposed and are prone to theft as well as to damage due to inclement weather.
To inhibit theft and damage due to inclement weather, many different types of bed covers have been considered. For example, one type of bed cover is in the form of a rigid, cabin to overlie the bed. The cabin is secured to the bed at various locations by way of fasteners. Unfortunately, this type of bed cover is expensive, difficult to remove from the bed and when installed allows articles to be placed within the bed only from the rear of the pickup truck.
To deal with these problems, alternative bed covers have been considered. For example, one common, inexpensive bed cover for a pickup truck is in the form of a waterproof tarpaulin fixed by snaps around the perimeter of the bed. Unfortunately, these bed covers are difficult to install and remove, difficult to store, they do not support the weight of a snowfall very well, and they offer little or no theft protection.
Another bed cover for a pickup truck is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,921 to Champy et al. The Champy et al. bed cover is in the form of an articulated metal cover which slides in tracks running along the sides of the bed and which locks into the tailgate. Although this bed cover provides a secure rigid cover for the bed and thereby inhibits theft, problems exist in that the bed cover occupies space within the bed, it is difficult to install and is expensive to manufacture. In addition, the bed cover only opens from one end and therefore, limits access to the bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,514 to Ronai discloses a truck box cover apparatus designed to overcome the above-described deficiencies associated with pickup truck bed covers. The Ronai truck box cover apparatus includes a pair of tracks secured to opposed sidewalls of the bed. A cover is placed on the tracks from above and can be locked into position on the tracks by pivoting locking members associated with the tracks. The locking members include key-actuated locks which can be conditioned to maintain the locking members in a locked condition. The cover is sufficiently rigid so as to secure the contents in the bed and inhibit tampering when the cover is locked into position on the tracks by the locking members. The cover can be rolled or folded up from either end when the locking members are released allowing the bed to be accessed from both ends. Although this truck box cover apparatus works satisfactorily, a user must walk around the entire vehicle bed to lock and unlock each of the key-actuated locks. Accordingly, improved bed cover designs to reduce the time required to cover and uncover the vehicle bed, to simplify construction and to reduce costs are desired.